Its aim is the teaching of the correct pronunciation of the Vedic hymns and mantras. The oldest phonetic textbooks are the Pratishakyas (prātiśākhya, a vrddhi abstract from Sanskritprati-śākhā), describing pronunciation and intonation of Sanskrit, as well as the Sanskrit rules of sandhi (word combination) specific to individual schools or Shakhas of the Vedas.

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The Pratishakhyas, which evolved from the more ancient Vedic Texts padapathas (padapāṭha) around 800 BCE, deal with the manner in which the Vedas are to be enunciated. There are separate Pratishakhyas for each Veda. They complement the books called Shiksha written by various authorities.

The Shiksha Texts and the Pratishakhyas led to great clarity in understanding the surface structure of language. For clarity of pronunciation, they propose breaking up the large Vedic compounds into stems, prefixes, and suffixes. Certain styles of recitation (pāṭha), such as the jaṭāpāṭha, involved switching syllables, repeating the last word of a line at the beginning of the next, and other permutations. In the process, a considerable amount of morphology is discussed, particularly regarding the combination of sequential sounds, which leads to the modalities of sandhi. An even more important discovery recorded in the Pratishakhya texts (particularly the Samaveda Pratishakhya, which is claimed to be the earliest[1]), is an organization of the stop consonant sounds into a 5x5 varga or square:

ka kha ga gha ṅa

ca cha ja jha ña

ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa

ta tha da dha na

pa pha ba bha ma

in which difference between sounds is preserved whether you recite it horizontally or vertically. It was extended and completed with fricatives and sibilants, semi-vowels, and vowels, and was eventually codified into the Brahmi alphabet, which is one of the most systematic sound-to-writing mappings. Scholar Frits Staal has commented, "Mendelejev's Periodic system of elements, the varga system was the result of centuries of analysis. In the course of that development, the basic concepts of phonology were discovered and defined.[2]"

The Varga system and the Pratishakshyas, contributions of the Shiksha texts, are elaborate systems which deal with the generation and classification of sound. According to the old tradition[which?], sound is generated when four conditions are satisfied: a ground or base; an electromagnetic force; a gravitational force implying the existence of other nearby bodies or particles; and space for the bodies to expand. The middle two parameters generate vibration in the bodies. Depending upon the magnitude of these parameters, there are 304 types of sounds, out of which 12 types are within human audible range. The lowest of these is called sphota, and the highest is called mahaghanarava.

Vajasaneyi Praatishaakshya (8-25) calls these letters of the alphabet Brahma Rashi [meaning Universal letter unit]. Thus, he says, the script is called Brahmi script. [3] However, there are a number of other traditional explanations for the name.

In addition, several Shiksha texts exist, most of them in metrical verse form but a few in sutra form. The following list contains some of these surviving texts (English translation of Paniniya Siksa.pdf):

Amoghanandini Shiksha

Apisali Shiksha (in sutra form)

Aranya Shiksha

Atreya Shiksha

Avasananirnyaya Shiksha

Bharadvaja Shiksha

Chandra Shiksha of Chandragomin (sutra form)

Charayaniya Shiksha

Galadrka Shiksha

Kalanirnya Shiksha

Katyayani Shiksha

Shiksha

Kaundinya Shiksha

Keshavi Shiksha

Kramakarika Shiksha

Kramasandhaana Shiksha

Laghumoghanandini Shiksha

Lakshmikanta Shiksha

Lomashi Shiksha

Madhyandina Shiksha

Mandavya Shiksha

Mallasharmakrta Shiksha

Manasvaara Shiksha

Manduki Shiksha

Naradiya Shiksha

Paniniya Shiksha (versified)

Paniniya Shiksha (in sutra form)

Paniniya Shiksha (with accents)

Parashari Shiksha

Padyaatmika Keshavi Shiksha

Pari Shiksha

Pratishakhyapradipa Shiksha

Sarvasammata Shiksha

Shaishiriya Shiksha

Shamaana Shiksha

Shambhu Shiksha

Shodashashloki Shiksha

Shikshasamgraha

Siddhanta Shiksha

Svaraankusha Shiksha

Svarashtaka Shiksha

Svaravyanjana Shiksha

Vasishtha Shiksha

Varnaratnapradipa Shiksha

Vyaali Shiksha

Vyasa Shiksha

Yajnavalkya Shiksha

Although many of these Shiksha texts are attached to specific Vedic schools, others are late texts.

Svara aksharas are also known as prana akshara; i.e., they are main sounds in speech, without which speech is not possible. Pāṇini referred to svara as ac pratyahara. Later they became known as ac Akshara.

Vyanjana means embellishment, i.e., consonants are used as embellishment in order to yield sonorant vowels. They are also known as Prani akshara; that is, they are like a body to which life (svara) is added. Pāṇini's name for vyanjana was Hal Pratyahara, which were later referred to as Hal akshara.

Generally, in articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (or point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active (moving) articulator (typically some part of the tongue) and a passive (stationary) articulator (typically some part of the roof of the mouth).

But according to Indian linguistic tradition,[5] there are five passive places of articulation: